Energy Exchange

Key takeaways from the court decision blocking suspension of BLM’s Waste Prevention Rule

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 26, 2018

By Rosalie Winn and Samantha Caravello, EDF Legal Fellow

A U.S. District Court judge has halted Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s latest effort to suspend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Waste Prevention Rule.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction last night in response to legal challenges brought by the states of California and New Mexico, and by EDF and a coalition of conservation and tribal citizen groups.

The court decision ensures that the Waste Prevention Protections are in full force and effect, delivering important benefits to tribes, ranchers and families across the West. It also demonstrates that facts matter, and that public input matters — and, as the court recognized, Zinke ignored both when he suspended the Waste Prevention Rule.

Here are some key takeaways from the court’s decision.

Zinke’s suspension would have resulted in immediate and irreparable harms Read More »

Also posted in BLM Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Utah’s looming ozone issue creating more impetus for stronger oil and gas controls

By Jon Goldstein / Published: February 26, 2018

Utah’s leaders have a challenge on their hands. Unhealthy ozone levels brought on by oil and gas pollution mean counties in the state’s Uinta Basin don’t meet our nation’s clean air standards.

Ozone, the main component in smog, is a serious public health risk that causes asthma attacks and respiratory damage especially in children and the elderly. Studies suggest oil and gas development is significant contributor to wintertime ozone pollution in the Uinta basin. Read More »

Also posted in Air Quality, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Oil and gas front group fails to read fine print on climate pollution…again

By David Lyon / Published: February 21, 2018

Last week, EDF released a new analysis, based on current, peer-reviewed science, that estimates methane emissions from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas sites are nearly five times higher than what industry reports to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. If you look strictly at emissions from unconventional well sites – emissions are twice as high as what companies report.

Also posted in General, Natural Gas / Tagged Pennsylvania | Comments are closed

All pain, no gain: BLM methane rule rollback hurts Westerners, helps no one

By Dan Grossman / Published: February 16, 2018

The rhetoric of President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke might suggest they care about maximizing America’s abundant natural resources. However, their actions repeatedly prove the opposite.

Every day roughly one million dollars’ worth of American natural gas is lost from taxpayer-owned lands through flaring, intentional releases, and leaks. After first temporarily suspending measures to cut this waste, the Department of the Interior earlier this week proposed ‘replacing’ them with a measure that will turn the clock back to the 30-year-old rigged system that allows operators to waste this public resource with virtual impunity.

Also posted in BLM Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Report reveals pollution transparency problems for majority of New Mexico’s energy companies

By Jon Goldstein / Published: February 13, 2018

Much is known about the methane pollution coming from New Mexico’s oil and gas industry. Scientists studying methane emissions have found the nation’s most concentrated cloud of methane shrouding the state’s San Juan Basin. And since methane is the primary components of natural gas, we know the state’s operators are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars per year because of these leaks.

We know much less, however, from New Mexico’s oil and gas companies themselves.

A new report reveals that far too few oil and gas producers are disclosing information about their methane waste problem.

Also posted in Natural Gas / Tagged New Mexico | Comments are closed

EPA inventory shows U.S. oil & gas methane emissions remain a major problem

By David Lyon / Published: February 12, 2018

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a draft of its annual update to the U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGI). The draft, which now includes emissions data for 2016, estimates oil and gas operators released 8.1 million metric tons (MMT) of methane of the course of the year through leaks, venting, and incomplete combustion—a mere one percent reduction from 2015.

EPA’s estimates of annual oil and gas methane emissions are likewise essentially flat from 2005 to 2016, showing a three percent increase. While some industry groups like to highlight the 15 percent decrease in emissions from 1990 to 2016, this ignores the fact that emission estimates have hovered around 8.1 MMT for the last dozen years, having roughly the same near-term climate impact every year as the emissions of 167 coal-fired power plants. Recent science has also suggested that methane is even more potent over twenty years than previously thought; the newer science suggests these emissions pack 14 percent more warming power, and are equivalent to more than 190 coal-fired power plants.

Also posted in Natural Gas / Comments are closed